A transport officer with the Northern Regional Health Directorate has been suspended and referred to police after allegedly selling seven Ministry of Health vehicles without authorisation.
The officer is accused of disposing of the vehicles without informing the appropriate authorities and failing to account for money received from the sales.
The case was disclosed on Thursday, October 8, during a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee, which was examining the management and disposal of state assets.
Officials told the committee that three of the vehicles had a combined valuation of GH¢13,803. The officer has also returned four of the seven vehicles.
The matter is now being treated as a criminal case by the police, while disciplinary proceedings have been started by the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
GHS Director-General Prof. Samuel Kaba Akoriyea said the officer had been suspended temporarily while the police investigation continued.
He told the committee: “We reported it to the police, they are handling it as criminal. We sued our disciplinary proceeding and he was suspended temporarily pending the police to act.”
Prof. Akoriyea added that the GHS had ensured the amount valued by STC was paid.
“We also made sure he paid all the amount the STC valued,” he stated.
The Ranking Member of the Public Accounts Committee, Samuel Atta Mills, said suspension alone was not an adequate response to the alleged conduct.
He questioned why the officer remained free after selling the vehicles without disclosure or accounting for the proceeds.
“Here is a guy who was not supposed to sell these vehicles. He sold them without disclosing to anybody and he didn’t account to anyone for the money. He sold seven of your vehicles and he is walking free,” he said.
